Spellsword Build?

Hey guys. I'm fairly new to the game but so far I've been having little to no trouble on my faith warrior. However, since my co-op buddy quit (he kept dying) I've decided to make a new character.

Now I was wondering if any of you could suggest a good Melee/Caster hybrid build. I've googled a lot of these but they're all either out of date (pre-PTDE) or have a lot of comments saying they are bad. I'm pretty much just thinking about an efficient build with a melee fighter using spells as well.

I guess it's similar to the lightning spear character I already have but from what I've read that's geared more towards PvP and I'm looking for a purely PvE melee/caster hybrid.

http://mmdks.com/3cr4 balders is the best sword (stat investment/weight/dmg). tin banishment @ 40dex is the best cat. for dark sorceries (that doesn't halve your castings). @45dex your cast speed is maxed making pursuers re-castable midfight and dark orb extremely viable (from being useless before). you can still cut many corners to bring your vit to a higher level (lighter shield, no bow, lower poise). this build is a beast.

Thanks for the posts guys. I don't really know how to decide between the builds since I'm new to the game and am not very familiar with all the weapons but xenon_nobelium's is the best explained one. However I'm not sure how the build would actually play out and the aesthetic is pretty ridiculous (chain helm makes me laugh every time i put it on).

Also I've come across a few abyss greatsword artorias builds with pyromancy. Would those be good for a noob such as myself or no?

xenon_nobelium wrote:http://mmdks.com/3cr4 balders is the best sword (stat investment/weight/dmg). tin banishment @ 40dex is the best cat. for dark sorceries (that doesn't halve your castings). @45dex your cast speed is maxed making pursuers re-castable midfight and dark orb extremely viable (from being useless before). you can still cut many corners to bring your vit to a higher level (lighter shield, no bow, lower poise). this build is a beast.

At 32 int Sorc/Beatrice/Izalith all have 200 adjust, which is more than tin banishment and they don't halve casts either.

As for abyss sword builds, the problem there is that you have to complete a large portion of the game before you can even get the abyss sword. For this reason I think having a progression plan for a PvE build is important.

example. I want to fight and cast. Generally Fighting means Str/Dex investment and Casting means Int/Fai investment. For this build I'm going to make a Str/Faith guy (then later do Dex/Int)

I'd start as a Cleric and spend my first bit of time getting ready. I'd go get Astora's straight sword from the valley of the drakes and head up through darkroot to get the grass crest shield. fight a few trees and get the wolf ring, say hi to andre and grab the firekeeper soul and unlock the elevator. Do some co-op and level my faith until I get both lightning spear miracles from being a sunbro. Those really chew bosses up and from there I'd get my stats to 16/13 at least for str/dex so I can use the Gravelord sword. Which I'd go get now that I've learned what I can from being a sunbro, as a bonus I get another miracle to cast. This assortment of spells/weapons will last me until I complete the game, and can freely farm up whatever I need.

For Int spellswords I find it's always simplest to start out leveling Int, get the Crown of Dusk and the Ivory catalyst and just throw great soul arrows at bosses and keep leveling Int until it reaches your desired level(32 is a good place to stop) In the meantime you can make use of elemental weapons until you can grab Velka's or what have you. Even at low dex values like 20 a CMW buffed falchion is a boss killing machine. Then once again you can at your leisure farm up whatever weapon you want now that you can go anywhere.

xenon_nobelium wrote:http://mmdks.com/3cr4 balders is the best sword (stat investment/weight/dmg). tin banishment @ 40dex is the best cat. for dark sorceries (that doesn't halve your castings). @45dex your cast speed is maxed making pursuers re-castable midfight and dark orb extremely viable (from being useless before). you can still cut many corners to bring your vit to a higher level (lighter shield, no bow, lower poise). this build is a beast.

At 32 int Sorc/Beatrice/Izalith all have 200 adjust, which is more than tin banishment and they don't halve casts either.

dark sorceries gain a dmg boost from the physical dmg a cat. (theorhetically) deals. somebody somewhere did excessive testing and found out that for dark sorceries the tin banishment catalyst is (always) the best @40dex, just for the 200physical dmg i gains from dex scaling. for any other spell the other catalyst are of course better.

@ zerocloud: i know the outfit isn't optimal, but i wanted to equip thorn gauntlents to switch to a claw on the fly...here's a more roleplay-y version http://mmdks.com/3det i really like to have that 61 poise to be able to tank 2 katana swings or a black flame, but really this guy could do with as low as 36...

@Xenon: Is this true at all Levels of Int? I assume this excludes the half cast catalysts as I can't imagine much competing with TCC at 44 Int. I hadn't heard about this physical damage = better dark sorcery crazyness. Though I guess that would explain why Str+Int with Manus' makes for some insane Beads.

iirc it was at least true until 40+ int where logans (supposedly) begins to take the lead, maybe it'll outperform logans even then. and of course the half cast cats are alwas stronger. also on really low int values the oolacile cats are the better choice (ivory even gets a small boost from your str ^^)